The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright

He also clerked for the Honorable Lavenski Smith, United States Court of Appeals judge for the Eighth Circuit. Wright litigated cases to enforce the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Acts, National Voter Registration Act, and the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act. Louis.įrom 2007 to 2012, he was a trial attorney in the Voting Section of the United States Department of Justice. He also received a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and juris doctorate from Washington University in St. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics and his master’s in environmental economics from Duke University. His father was an Army doctor so the family moved often. Tennessee, California, West Germany, Alaska, Washington, Georgia. “One of the things my mentors were telling me was, write a novel that’s rooted in your experience,” he says. His debut novel combines his love of writing with his legal expertise by going behind the scenes of the often dirty business of politics. Creative writing? Not so much,” says Wright.

“In legal writing, there are lots of rules. But writing a novel is a lot different than writing motions. Wright always considered himself a writer, even when he became a lawyer. How did it all happen? Well, that’s an interesting story. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, a national literary award designed to recognize rising African American fiction writers.

Just last month, Wright received a special recognition from the Ernest J. I still can’t believe it.”Īnd sometimes Wright still can’t believe he finished the book, let alone be included among many of his favorite writers. So many of these writers shaped my understanding of storytelling and literature. I stared at the list for at least five minutes in disbelief. “This list recognized national literary treasures, some of our nation’s greatest and most accomplished writers. This wasn’t just a list of great African American writers,” Wright says. That is until he decided to read the list and saw his name. When another text arrived congratulating him, Wright was thoroughly confused. Two friends texted the list to Steven Wright, a clinical associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and lecturer in the UW–Madison creative writing program whose debut novel, “The Coyotes of Carthage,” came out in April. In August, USA Today published “100 Black novelists and fiction writers you should read, from Abi Daré to Zora Neale Hurston.” “They’re smart and they’re hardworking and they really love learning.” “It’s always such a great honor to teach such smart students, especially at the University of Wisconsin,” Steven Wright says.

The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright